1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seatbelt systems for protecting occupants in vehicles, and more particularly to an automatic seatbelt system capable of automatically fastening the seatbelt system to an occupant.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Previously, there have been proposed automatic seatbelt systems for automatically fastening a seatbelt system to an occupant in a vehicle. In this type of automatic seatbelt system, one end of an occupant restraining webbing is secured to a door of the vehicle, and the other end is wound into a retractor provided at substantially the central portion of the vehicle, whereby, if the occupant opens the door, a space for the occupant to enter or leave the vehicle is adapted to be formed between the webbing and a seat in the vehicle, and, if the occupant closes the door upon being seated, the webbing is moved rearward in the vehicle in accordance with the arcuate closing motion of the door, so that the webbing can be automatically fastened to the occupant.
However, this type of seatbelt system presents disadvantages such as the space for the occupant to enter or leave the vehicle formed between the webbing and the seat when the occupant opens the door being insufficient so as to disturb the entering or leaving of the occupant, and the webbing sliding on the chest of the occupant due to the door opening action of the occupant, to thereby give an uncomfortable feeling to the occupant.